Found in a Bookshop

If you love books and the power of a recommended book, this one is for you! I didn't realise this was a sequel, but it doesn't matter at all and can be read as a standalone. Loveday, Kelly and Madison are the three central characters who all bring others along with them for this journey through running a bookshop during the 2020 COVID pandemic. They create an idea of filling 'Book Prescriptions' that customers send in whilst the shop is closed.

Throughout the book we need lots of the customers who write in and call for book prescriptions and learn more about the central characters too. There is so much going on in this book, but nothing too much to handle.

I found some very sad moments, but also great insight into human relationships in general. A really lovely read.

The staff at the Lost for Words bookshop come up with the idea of a 'Book Pharmacy' when thinking of ways to generate income during the pandemic lockdown. People send the shop emails with what they would like recommendations for or help with (perhaps wanting a certain genre or escapist read) and the staff make suggestions for them.

It's actually the second book about this bookshop (the previous was called Lost for Words) though can read read and enjoyed as an independent story. I loved it

It's a fabulous warm, cosy race, like a hug in a book. I loved it.

Thanks to Headline and Netgalley for my advanced copy. This is my own honest review

Thanks so much to Headline for asking me to be on the tour, and sending me a copy of the book.

I loved this! At first I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of it, the pandemic being still so fresh, but honestly this was lovely.

Stephanie made this book not only about the pandemic, and loneliness we all felt, but about feeling uplifted and happy, and feeling included. I love all the book recommendations, and there is a list of them all in the back of the book, I’m going to try to read some of them.

I loved the characters, Geoge and Rosemary were my favourite, I loved hearing about their lives, how they met etc, but mostly how happy they are now in their retirement. Their garden overlooking the sea, sitting enjoying a cup of tea and a book together, this is what I want when I’m older.

Thanks again to Headline and Stephanie Butland for including me in the tour and for my gifted copy of the physical book. Also to Netgalley for the e-arc.

How quickly we forget what it was like during lockdown, when we isolated, allowed outside for an hour, missed celebrations and missed the passing of loved ones.
We return to York and the ‘Lost for Words ’ bookshop where Loveday , like all business’ is having a hard time financially. Reaching* out into the community she manages to connect her ‘Book Prescription ‘ service with vulnerable, isolated, at risk and lonely people.
Reading about these people in the community brought back many memories about lockdown, about the many unsung heroes who quietly got on and helped in the community, about the health and care workers who went above and beyond and the times we could only wave through a window.
I think that this book captures that era perfectly, and if we ever need reminding how lucky we are now then this is the perfect read, not all doom and gloom but with rays of sunshine and hope peeping through.

This was an emotional read, revisiting the first Covid lockdown and being reminded of utterly terrible it was. We meet some wonderful characters, some from the previous novel and some new and we live through this traumatic time with them.
I really enjoyed this and it made me cry, especially at the end. It also made me doubly aware of how important books are, and how much of a privilege it is to be able to work with people who want to buy books. Losing yourself in a good book is the best way to escape.

This was a return to Loveday Cardew’s Lost and Found Bookshop in the beautiful city of York. and from the outset I would say this is a book you can still enjoy without reading the first, although do read it if you get chance as it’s good. This book is set within the period of the pandemic, a time when bookshops had to find new and original ways to remain in business while customers were unable to come in and browse the store. I ordered books from independent shops during the pandemic and found it a bit of a lifeline. I was shielding throughout due to my MS and these little parcels of joy, beautifully wrapped and with thoughtful notes inside really did lift my day and make me feel connected to someone. Loveday’s bookshop also provided this service and received a letter from Rosemary and George. They are elderly, married for fifty years and had downsized more recently, meaning they’d let go of a small library of their own books to create more space. Now they were missing it and sent the bookshop a cheque for £100 to provide them with a selection of books, then once finished they would write again. The couple are pragmatic about their lives, they know they don’t have very long left, but if they can while away this time on their bench at the bottom of the garden and reading good books together they’ll be happy. Now Loveday knows what they can do while their doors are closed. They can recommend books to their customers who perhaps need cheering up, or feel a need for some bloodthirsty crime novels. Either way their avid reading has come in useful because now they have a wealth of knowledge to start working as book doctors.

This was such a gentle and enjoyable book to read, despite serious themes from the letters and a story thread about domestic violence. The books are not the only purpose of the shop. Upstairs is a reader’s retreat, a space to have a tea or coffee and read, but also a space where women can ask for help if they are stuck in an abusive relationship. It’s very subtle, being aware that even seeming to look for an escape, can be deadly for the person being abused. These themes are not easy, but are introduced carefully and with awareness of their impact. Probably because I’m a therapist I loved being able to read the customer’s letters and find out what they’re like. It’s astounding how much of their inner world is given away in such a short piece of correspondence and in their requests too. I know I could look back on my Goodreads history in the years before blogging and see exactly what was going on in my life, because reading has always been my way of coping. I loved the structure of being able to read the letters, then seeing the bookshop staff’s choices for that reader. I did find many that were unread on my bookshelves and the blurbs reminded me why I wanted to read them. Others were new to me and have now further extended my gargantuan wish lists.

I really enjoyed the characters too, especially Loveday who is just my sort of quirky. Kelly and Madison were great too and it was lovely to be part of their inner world at times because it stopped the structure from being too repetitive. These separate threads - letters and different narrators - brings together a community, even if it is a remote one. The little vignettes of customer’s lives are like a collage of the pandemic and it seemed an intriguing way to give an overview, but also represent the variety within that shared experience from sorrow to joy. Of course Rosemary and George are the customers I felt most invested in, because they were adorable and I enjoyed their memories of their lives together. Within such a crisis as COVID, the knowledge that someone else was out there caring about you and having the same love of reading was incredibly powerful. The idea of books as a remedy has always been one of my strongest beliefs and I’m always suggesting books to friends and clients that might help with an issue, or simply make them feel less alone. It has inspired me to think about doing something similar in the village with the book exchange. Set within our old red telephone box are eight shelves full of books that I tidy and contribute to with copies I don’t want to keep. I’ve wondered for a while how villagers who can’t leave the house could access the bookshop. So maybe I ask them to write me a letter.

I found this book incredibly moving. Set during the pandemic, it brought back all the feelings of loneliness and despair, the constant bad news, anxiety and worry. It is also a very warm and caring book. I loved all the characters (apart from the bad ones!) and now have a desperate need to go to as many bookshops as possible in a short time! I love that there is a complete list of all the books mentioned at the end. I intend to read many of them.I can not recommend this book highly enough.

I would just like to say a big thank you to Headline Publishing who very kindly forwarded me a paperback copy of this book in return for my honest review.

This book is the sequel to Lost For Words but can vey easily be read as a stand alone without any problems at all.

Just from the title alone i knew i had to read this book but then i read the blurb and knew i definitely had to read it and i wasn’t disappointed - i loved it!!

Set amid the Covid lockdown we get a glimpse of what life is like during this time.

We meet lots of wonderful characters who are very real and down-to-earth and i really enjoyed getting involved in their lives,

Found In A Bookshop was a wonderful, emotional and heartwarming story and a pure escapist read - beautiful…….

A novel for book lovers everywhere. Set during the pandemic in York and Whitby, it explores the wonder of books and reading and it's power to connect and transform. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc

Is there a more perfect sounding book than this one? I'll answer that. No! It was a winner for me before I'd even opened the cover. Do I now have a list of Stephanie's other books to buy and work my way through? Why yes, I do.

I said to my mum (who isn't a particularly keen reader) that I wanted to exist in the world of this book. I know it's very much a normal world, full of pandemics and whatnot (and you're probably screaming that we did live in a world full of pandemics why would you want to again?), but this world and community she has created within the bookshop is perfect.

The idea of a book pharmacy is fantastic and I wish I'd created it. I love nothing better than suggesting books to people, but not many of my nearest and dearest really do reading, so I'm living vicariously through the people in this book. I actually signed up to an online course in Bibliotherapy many moons ago to learn about 'prescribing' books for people's ills. But I never completed it. I really should get back to that.

This book perfectly depicts what is so special about books and bookshops and booksellers, and makes us bookworms sound more like the normal ones round here.

I've said in previous reviews that I generally dislike books that use COVID as a plot device. I lived it, I don't want to read it. I want to escape from reality for a bit. But it didn't really seem like an issue with this book. And I think it's because it's like about COVID itself, but more about life around it; the negatives and positives, the people, the businesses, the emotions - and that I really liked. Because the pandemic made us feel very isolated, and so to read about others, it gives you that freedom we were so missing at the time.

Obviously this book had to come out when it does, because it's telling us about the pandemic after the event, she couldn't exactly have written it before the event. But I feel it would have been a really good book to have out during the pandemic, so that everyone would feel a little less lonely.

I found it emotional right from the off. And that's not necessarily in a sad way - although there is that too (you'll get no spoilers from me!), but it's just very moving and I suppose I wasn't expecting that. There is sadness, yes, collective and individual sadness, but there's also happiness and joy and friendship and family and love and, above all, hope, even when all seems lost. And that is all very moving.

The curse of a good book: wanting to whizz through it fast so you can find out what happens, but wanting it to last forever because you never want to leave its world.

The problem with this book is that it mentions lots of other books (unsurprisingly), which means I've now got a list of 23 new books I want to read, so I'll be sending my bill to Stephanie. 😊 The amount of research she must have had to do for this book, just in terms of thinking of what books to suggest to her characters is amazing and it makes me want to view her own home library, see what goodies she has.

I actually sent a Twitter message to Stephanie when I was about 100 pages into it because I wanted to thank her. The way she writes about how important books are is just beautiful. My mental health hasn't been good recently, combined with chronic pain and whatnot, and I have a tendency to fall into a depression, and the only thing that has really kept me going is reading. And she's written the words I didn't know I needed, about books being medicine to help combat sadness or loneliness. It was like she found the words that my heart wanted to say, which may sound corny, but I truly agree that books and reading can be our salvation.

Now, I don't know Stephanie, and I have only spoken to her once in the aforementioned Twitter message, but my gut instinct is this is the book she needed once upon a time, and wished she had, and so now she's giving it to all of us to treasure.

There are difficult topics in this book though, I will point out, including, obviously, COVID, illness and grief, but also miscarriage, domestic violence, loneliness, deceit, vandalism. That may seem like a lot to throw at a 400+ page book, but it's not. It's all written with such sensitivity and heart that it fits with these characters and their situations and it makes it feel more like reality, because sadly we all go through these things, or know someone that has.

I also like that it's full of short chapters, some only 1 or 2 pages long. I have said before, I much prefer short chapters. They make the book feel faster and more exciting, and it means you can read to the end of a chapter before you go to sleep. I also love that the chapters are from different characters' points of view. We have Kelly and Loveday who work in the shop, the other members of the bookshop family Sarah-Jane and Madison, the love interests Nathan and Craig, and then you have the wider community: Zoe, Jennifer, Trixie, Rosemary and George, Adjoa, Bella, Casey, Hozan and Zhilwan, Lorraine - it's a real cross-section of real people and they're all fabulous. Some you only hear from once or twice, and others take up several chapters with their story. It's a nice balance. At first, it may seem like too many characters to keep in your head, but it's not. They all feel instantly familiar like you're reading about your own neighbours.

It's the perfect book for any time. For a grey winter's evening curled up in front of the fire, for a hot day lying on a foreign beach, for when you're sad or lonely or grieving, for when you're happy or excited or in love, and for when you just want someone to say, "it's ok".